Art of Living Foundation guru Sri Sri Ravishankar visited godman-in-hiding Nithyananda’s now defunct Vedic Temple in Los Angeles on Friday and spoke to him over phone briefly before denouncing him in private to some of his former devotees.

During the brief telecon, Nithyananda is believed to have “welcomed” Ravishankar to his temple which, along with another one in Seattle, was shut down on Saturday following an intense power struggle among his devotees a majority of whom have taken a dim view of the godman since the sex scandal broke early last month.

When contacted with specific questions, Ravishankar's media relations manager at his Kanakapura ashram here, Charu Garhwal, admitted that the Art of Living guru did visit the Nithyananda's LA temple. "He met and talked to some of the traumatised devotees of Nithyananda."

But within an hour Garhwal called back Deccan Herald, saying: "Actually, he (Ravishankar) is in Los Angeles to inaugurate a new temple where some of Nithyananda's traumatised devotees came to meet him." When asked if Ravishankar spoke to Nithyananda over phone, Garhwal said she would "check and get back". She never called back.

Some former Nithyananda devotees Deccan Herald spoke to over phone said Ravishankar visited the so-called Vedic Temple on Friday evening. "He went around the whole temple complex, visiting all the departments," a senior former devotee said.

While at the temple, whose possession has become a bone of contention among some former and a few last remaining devotees of Nithyananda, a temple attendant got the godman-in-hiding on the phone for Ravishankar to speak to.

"The two talked briefly after which Ravishankar told the temple priest in private that if they needed help they could approach him," an influential NRI, who is a former Nithyananda follower, told Deccan Herald.

Ravishankar has had past association with Nithyananda. On Nithyananda's invitation, Ravishankar had visited the so-called godman's Tiruvannamalai Dhyanapeetam on August 6, 2009. Photographs of the two together are prominently displayed on the Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam website.

Sources in LA wondered whether one of the primary reasons behind Ravishankar's visit to the LA temple was to "win back" devotees who are cut up over Nithyananda's sexual indiscretions. In this context, a former devotee said: "A few years back, no less than a dozen of Ravishankar's followers deserted him to join Nithayananda's order in which they became 'acharayas'. Ravishankar is returning the favour and trying to wean them back."

Former Nithyananda devotees believe Ravishankar is trying to capitalise on the situation and may be looking for ways and means to take control of the LA temple and to have donors, who till lately contributed to the disgraced godman's coffers, make monetary offerings to his foundation. "This is almost like a corporate takeover," an Nithyananda ex-devotee said.

He is great businessman. He has made spiritually as his business. Thousands of free workers are working for him. Few are enjoying.

A question to voluntters- Will you work free for Tata or Ambani? They are running huge businesses, giving employment to lacs of people,Paying Taxes. But, Ravi shankar is smarter than these people, he is making huge money, he is greedy of name and fame. But, no employment only exploitaton, no taxes, no accounts.

1. Spend (attend) on many courses a year ($$$)2. Market (convince) the course to more people ($$$)3. Donate and collect donation ($$$)4. Spend their money and time on Service Projects ($$$)

The Major achievements of AOL (Guru Ji) are:-

1. Collecting all fees and donations ($$$)2. Spending on Properties, Airfares and Hotels ($$$)3. Transferring remaining monies to overseas bank accounts and relatives ($$$)4. Claiming member’s funded service projects as the end use of funds

I am a full time teacher from New Delhi, right now taking courses in Mathura District of UP. Although i always feel that Guruji is taking care of me, when i am away from home, but recently i had 2 experiences, which amazed me a lot and filled my eyes in tears.

This last sunday morn, i was getting ready for taking LOng Kriya in Mathura. I was getting late and i was putting batteries in my Audio player as in UP, electricity goes very frequently and i am itself seeing that for last 4 long kriya's the electricity is going and i need to put my audio player in Battery mode.

WHen i put batteries, i found that my player is not working on that mode. 2-3 times i took off the battries and put in the player, but it didnt worked in that mode.i smhow got upset due to electricity prob and even a co-teacher (Himani, who is Art Excel and YES teacher), who is living with me, also tried in her audio player, but failed.

In this situation,i put the non-working batteries inside the player i prayed to Guruji before the Kriya started and said" I dont have cells, not you have to take care of Kriya and electricity"

It so happened due to Grace of Guruji that in whole of Kriya, there was no electricity failure(which is next to impossible in UP) and only the electicity went off when, Guruji was about to chant the last Mantra. As soon as the power went off, i put the palyer at Battery mode and to me huge amazement, the player started working in Battery mode.

At that time, we both teachers were seeing each other faces and seeing Guruji's photo. I didnt knew to laugh or cry at that moment.

# We both teachers are staying at the 3rd flloor (at the roof) at some devotee home, where the whole room becomes like a fire ball in the afternoon and night and the temp is rising in UP.

The next day, we both were talking to Guruji, that please guruji do something, it is so Hot. We will burn, pl arrange a Cooler for us. while talking to him,We challanged Guruji and specificly said" We need a cooler in our room, pl arrange for us. You want that your teachers stay like this in so hot".

As soon as we came downstair( after saying to him), to the devotee home, that person told both of us" it must be very hot upstair, we had arranged a new cooler for you, it will come today"

The major grapevine in bangalore is that Ravishankar was behind the sex tape of Nithya. As nithya was proving to be a formidable competitor to his business which was already dwindled by ramdev in the north. Ravishankar plotted to get the paramahamsa nailed with the help of lenin and ranjitha. He is benefiting now and with the help of the BJP government in karnataka, ravishankar is planning to annex the nithyananda empire - properties and disciples et all. Ravi is far more sinster and wily.

Dr Quentin Jones, you need a Doctor! Haha! Reading your mail I remembered how I ALSO used to think that way when I was a teacher. RS saving us in every single situation! I BELIEVED IT BACK THEN! Today I realize how ridiculous all this magical thinking is! Every single amazing thing we attributed it to HIS HOLINESS when he has no clue when these things happen. What about believe in your own power a little and realize that faith is our most powerful tool and HIS most precious commodity? OUR own faith is what moves not HIM or faith in him. Pray to a rock, and if you believe in its power, I bet it will also supply you with electricity. Dr. Jones, you will be crying a lot if you keep believing in this magical holy bull shit. At least for us reading these stories, we are shedding tears of laughter!

Dr. Jones. You are funny. You are using those stories as evidence of what? Give evidence that THAT was miracle performed by RS and give evidence that THAT means anything important in this world and/or that it proves RS is not a con-man.

Ravi Shankar is a predator. This post illustrates his predatory nature. The guy is a deceitful thief thorough & Thorough.Whole of his foundation is based on theft & fraud & deceit.So here he was the first on scene to take advantage of the downfall of a fellow sick guru & capitalise. Not only to check the real estate he can easily buy (he just got another 1 million US$ from GuruDakshina(!!) in LA, all tax free, WAkE UP US Govt/taxpayers), but also to take advatage of Nithyananda's confused followers & wealthy donors. The guy is simply a predator. And yes, he is well known in using spies & agents in other guru's ashrams to spy on them & get all the juice for him to use later to his advantage. Some of these spies would even say to the targeted person bad things about srisri/AOL to gain their confidence.And yes, he is also well known to use dirty tactics for his own benefit. look how he betrayed Sri Lanka's resistance in name of conflic resolution. Will write a post on that later.

I feel sorry for the teacher. He seems to be a sincere person with strong faith. Faith is not rational - atheists ridicule it but despite being out of AOL, I do believe in prayer- i've seen miracles happen in my life...consciousness does take care - we are provided what we need.

The problem is that RS claims credit for things he has not done. And the whole organization runs on miracle powers of RS - while in reality it is just the devotees faith that makes it happen. RS knows this, but lets this myth making of himself continue. Not only that he manipulates sincere faith of people to serve his and his family's financial interests.

How twisted is that. I hope and pray, these people get away from AOL find genuine spirituality.

I remember rs and some of his senior teachers saying that in the near future, all of the traditions would merge under one guru, and that other gurus were already sending their followers to rs, and that its only a matter of time blah blah blah. It looks like rs is helping his prophesy along by physically going to temples and convincing people himself. Its laughable.

RS's main quality is hypocrisy. He is also a good actor. He wears white robes and smiles, and you may take him for His Holiness, but look inside, and you will see huge teeth of a shark. Only then it may dawn on you that HH stands for His Hypocrisy. I wish more people realized that shark is not the best company.

"I remember rs and some of his senior teachers saying that in the near future, all of the traditions would merge under one guru"

This can be the case only if the Guru is eclectic and teachings are open, broad and universal. In case of RS, his teachings are narrow and secretive. One single hotch potch breathing technique - sudharshan kriya and general yogasanas and some bits of knowledge - thats what AOL is.

There have been several Indian Gurus who have been instrumental in distilling and imparting knowledge from various different sources and giving them out openly in an innovative and easy to digest fashion - Swami Vivekananda, Sivananda, Osho and Bihar School of Yoga are few of the main ones who can actually claim such universal status.Ravishankar and his guru Mahesh yogi will always remain as snake oil salesmen who thrived on secerecy, hypocrcy and greed. Ramdev any day is better than Ravishankar in imparting yoga and pranayama effectively.

btw i have been to h.h ssrs ashram in bangalore quite a few times and the last time i visited even baba ramdev was there and ssrs and ramdev have been seen together numerous times in india on public and private platforms so that means they have nothing against each other... okie so ramdev has baugh an island inscotland which is probably triple the cost of the aol l.a centre ever thought where ramdev got all his service project money from.. ultimately both r.s and ramdev seem to the indians to be somewhat i say somewhat and not totally genuine atlest in the rs club one can do the courses once a while and in india basic course for repeaters is free ....where as in ramdev club 2 visit his ashram membership costs a few high thousands to a coupla lacs of indian rupees whereas no pressure 2 keep donating in rs club from what i have been told... otherwise both the godmen ramdev and rs are keeping indian tradition alive and have popularised ancient breathing in the west ramdev with anulom vilom and rs with kriya so if quite a few ppl have found relief with sky and ramdevs yoga i see nothing wrong with it.... ye s but when they start acting like hypocrytes thats what is disgusting... today even rk mission nad iskcon have become business in the name of indian spirituality so i dont see nything wrong with aol or ramdev atleast some of the volunteers do genuine work in these orgs albeit on their own initiative...and jai gurudev is used even by shirdi sai bhakts and devotees of other gurus it means victory to the divine subconciousness residing within you and me in the indian tradition i donno what interpretation aol has of it....

non working of batteries is due to non charging and it got charged during electricity run time and started to work after getting charged when power went off.

Ravi shankar is making competitive orgnisation against his so called guru Maharishi .Why the govt of india has not look into his property and money matter.I think govt official is also in his hands.Nithyananda will reveal all about Ravi shankar in few days.

Latest from Sri Sri's Twitter acct:"Denver, Colorado, Apr 20: Sri Sri addressed 800 people & said spiritual leaders who let down people should get twice the regular punishment"Smart! I wonder who's next? :)I really do hope and wish the media or someone gets hold of the real truth behind Sri Sri and AoL and saves people from ruining their lives. AoL and Sri Sri is running a campaign against this blog.Can someone please contact the media in India and show them this blog PLEASE? That will be real service to those who's lives and money is getting wasted.

RS is a Rasputin! I'm sure he let the reluctant and inept Bangalore cops know about Nithya's whereabouts. Behind that beard, rustling silks, dread locks and shifty eyes, lies a cunning dog eager to eat the entrails of other fallen men, while engorging himself with any dollars lying around. This Rasputin will be the next to fall.

You might have been Aol for 15,20 or any number of years,but even after all the courses that you may have done there does not seem to be a hint of gratitude towards the knowledge,let alone the master. Why are you bothered with other peoples experiences? There is a sanskrit saying ''as is your vision of the world ,so is your projection/creation of it''. People have different experiences,let us not refute this fact.These experiences maybe a result of some mental baggage that these people carry.Why are you bothered about what people say and events that they have encountered on the Path?

Let me ask you this..1. have you gone deep into the knowledge that Guruji has given ? 2.Why are you concerned with heresay? Do you have concrete proof,or are your arguments driven by what somebody else has told you?

3.How do you know if the people posting on this Blog are genuine? There maybe and there probably are,according to me, some elements wanting to conspire.

4.Can you find fault with any of the the teachings of AOL? whether it be knowledge points in the Part 1/2 or the commentaries on the Ashtavakra gita, Narad bhakti sutras,Patanjali yog sutras? According to me , the delivery of the commentaries by guruji are Authentic and they carry with them an uncommon depth . The knowledge is based on Vedantic principles and YES, these are ''stolen'' and re-packaged only to make it more available to people. By your varying definitions of ''stolen practices'' ,Pranayama ,Hatha Yog and vedanta teachers all over the world should be at fault.If you merely trot on the surface and fail to see the depth you will keep on complaining. Peoples emotions do get hurt but they are superficial and they keep on changing..

You are most welcome to leave AOLf,nobody can stop you. Yes,There are AOL teachers who have a ''holier than thou''attitude and there are abusive teachers, I agree. If I had a say, I would flush these people out of the Organisation. I have been an ardent AOL follower for 8 years now and I have not come accross scandalous elements. In my experience, the Knowledge is as Solid as a Rock and should be the only Guide that a Seeker must have . The Guru/Teacher is merely a guide ,finally it is up to the seeker to experience what the Master has already experienced. You can Tip-toe on the shore or you can Dive deep and collect the pearls.It is upto us.. My request to you all would be to only make the knowledge as your guide. I dont give a damn whether an AOL teacher is Senior or whether he/she boasts about this or that.. They are all Seekers at the end of the day. If they have a 'holier than thou' attitude I feel sorry for them because they have been caught up with the outer world and people around them. My experience has been to never believe what people have said unless and until I have personally experienced it happen to me.. I wish upon you all a happy life..

If you read more carefully the post you comment on, you will see that it is about godman Ravi Shankar’s association with disgraced godman Nithyananda.

You ask: “Can you find fault with any of the teachings of AOL? whether it be knowledge points in the Part 1/2 or the commentaries on the Ashtavakra gita, Narad bhakti sutras,Patanjali yog sutras?”

Nithyananda was also giving deep spiritual Knowledge to his followers, like Shankar, wasn’t he? One may be bright enough to interpret ancient scriptures, but be crook, cheat, thief and fraud at the same time. That’s what makes Shankar and Nithyananda so much alike.

“There does not seem to be a hint of gratitude towards the knowledge, let alone the master.”

One may respect Knowledge, but disrespect interpreter of the Knowledge, who is a hypocrite and whose actions are opposite to what he teaches.

“People have different experiences, let us not refute this fact. These experiences maybe a result of some mental baggage that these people carry. Why are you bothered about what people say and events that they have encountered on the Path?”

In AOL you really “don’t bother” about people, people for you are just slaves, disposables. Creators of this blog have totally different attitude to people, trying to help those, who “carry mental baggage” (who doesn’t?). They do it out of compassion, and so that other innocent people did not fall prey to His Holiness Hypocritical Interpreter of ancient scriptures.

“My experience has been to never believe what people have said unless and until I have personally experienced it happen to me..”

Yes, some people learn from their own mistakes, but smart people learn from other people's mistakes. You are still in the first category, but there is always hope…

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This blog was created with the sole purpose of providing former Art of Living members and currently doubting ones a space for healing, finding answers, understanding processes that we went through as active members and as "drop-outs", sharing, supporting each other, with understanding, compassion, and above all, freedom and forgiveness. We welcome you to share your stories. Authors will be kept confidential unless you request your name be published.

Helpful Books

"Take Back your Life: Recovering from Cult and Abusive Relationships" by Janja Lalich

"The Guru Papers: Masks of Authoritarian Power" by Joel Kramer

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Opinions expressed in this blog are an expression of free speech and are protected as free speech. At no time is any content posted by the blog creator knowingly false. Opinions expressed in articles and files on this blog are those of the contributors and those opinions may not necessarily be shared by anyone involved in the creation of this blog. Events described in this blog are as accurate as memory and recollection permit. The experiences described in this blog is unique to the authors. You may have a more or less satisfying experience with the Art of Living Foundation or its related organizations.